# Valve Valve Corporation, also known as Valve Software or simply Valve, is a Bellevue, Washington game studio whose chronic release delays and refusal to put a '3' on any sequel turned the company itself into a running joke across PC gaming communities. Jokes about 'Valve Time' and the gag that 'Valve can't count to three' became two of the longest-running memes in PC gaming, repeated for years on forums, Reddit and Steam itself. ## Origin Valve Corporation was founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, and broke out with Half-Life in November 1998 before building the Steam distribution network and the Source engine[2]. After Half-Life 2, the studio shipped two shorter episodic sequels, Episode One and Episode Two, then quietly stopped, which became the central evidence file for the counting joke[2]. The 'can't count to 3' punchline is widely traced to a webcomic archived on Epicbrew that lined up every Valve franchise and pointed out that none of them had a '3' entry, a layout that spread through gaming forums in the late 2000s and early 2010s[2]. 'Valve Time' grew out of the same pattern of slipped dates, and Valve's own developer wiki openly catalogs the delays as a running internal gag rather than denying them[1]. Urban Dictionary entries from the period summed up the whole bit in one line, defining Valve as 'a game company that doesn't know how to count to 3'[3]. - **Platform:** PC gaming forums / Reddit (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2011 ## Overview Two intertwined jokes drive the Valve meme. The first, 'Valve Time,' describes the studio's habit of blowing past announced release windows by months or years, with the term retroactively applied to anything the company ships late[1]. The second, 'Valve can't count to three,' points at the fact that none of Valve's series have ever received a numbered third installment: Half-Life stalled on Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal stopped at Portal 2, Team Fortress ended at TF2, Left 4 Dead at Left 4 Dead 2[3]. The format is usually just the word 'Valve' delivered as a punchline, either as an answer to 'when is X coming out?' or as a shrug at a long wait. Image macros, comic strips and forum copypastas spin the two jokes together, treating Gabe Newell as a figure who refuses to type the numeral 3[2]. Valve itself leaned into the bit by using 'Valve Time' internally and keeping a page about its own missed deadlines on the official Valve Developer Wiki[1]. ## How It Spread The joke moved out of niche forum threads and onto Reddit, 4chan's /v/, and the Steam Community hubs through the back half of the 2000s, usually attached to any news post asking about Half-Life 3, Portal 3, or Left 4 Dead 3. Each missed deadline refreshed the bit: Team Fortress 2 updates, long gaps between Dota 2 patches, and the eight-plus-year wait for Half-Life: Alyx all pulled 'Valve Time' back into conversation[1]. Valve's willingness to admit the joke kept it alive. The company's own developer wiki hosts a 'Valve Time' page documenting notable schedule slips, which gave posters a primary source to link whenever someone complained about a delay[1]. Urban Dictionary entries kept the shorter 'can't count to three' version in rotation as a two-line reaction[3]. By the early 2010s the two jokes were effectively the default response to any Valve-related news, and Know Your Meme logged the pattern as a recognized community in-joke rather than a single viral image[2]. The gag outlasted the thing it was mocking: Half-Life: Alyx shipped in 2020 under the 'Alyx' name rather than a '3,' which fans immediately read as Valve dodging the number on purpose. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Valve? Valve Corporation is a Bellevue, Washington game studio and the operator of Steam, best known as a meme for its endlessly delayed games and its refusal to put a '3' on any sequel[2]. ### Where did Valve come from? The company was founded in 1996 by ex-Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington and broke out with Half-Life in 1998; the meme grew out of its later pattern of missed deadlines and skipped third installments[2]. ### What does Valve mean? As a punchline, 'Valve' is shorthand for a game that will be late, or for the running gag that the studio 'can't count to three' because none of its franchises have a numbered 3 entry[3]. ### How do you use Valve? Posters typically drop the word 'Valve' as a one-word answer when someone asks why a game is late, or link the studio's own 'Valve Time' wiki page to prove the delay is on brand[1]. ### Is Valve still popular? The jokes are still in regular use on gaming forums and in Steam discussions, and Valve itself keeps acknowledging them in interviews and on its developer wiki[1]. ## References 1. [https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Valve_Time]() 2. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/valve]() 3. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Valve]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/valve Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library